Before He Told Himself
by Utsuro
Summary: Kind of a Prelude to 'Or so he told himself'. Neji Hyuga wanted candy, and he would get it, even if the measures he needed to take to get it weren't quite normal. NejiTen, could be viewed as friendship, OoC


Before He Told Himself  
Utsuro

Guess what! I still don't own Naruto (or mission impossible)! (Disclaimer ;P)

--

Contrary to popular belief, Neji hadn't always hated halloween. At the easily impressionable (stupid) age of six, he had thought the costumes people wore were cute. He himself rampaged the streets, rang doorbells and demanded candy from complete strangers. At this time of year boobie traps would have been completely unnacceptable (what if Santa decided to make early rounds this year?), and the prospect of throwing bombs down on unexpecting trick-or-treaters from his conveniently placed second story window hadn't entered his innocent mind. It was at this point in time that, yes, it could be said that Neji Hyuga liked halloween.

This particular Halloween shows us a rather frustrated Neji, staring at the ceiling as though it may melt, and that in turn may benifit him. Making a hole in the ceiling, in fact, was not what the young Hyuga was attempting (though he would several times throughout his life). Our six year old protagonist was faced with a rather complex problem. You see, the Hyuga in question often obeyed his elders, but this was unreasonable! Seeing as his father was recently deceased, Neji happened to not have a chapperone for the Trick-Or-Treating he'd been planning. This in itself may not seem such a problem, as Neji had been convinced up to that very evening that he would be Trick-Or-Treating with his five year old cousin, untill good old Uncle Hiashi had informed him that he would be doing no such thing.

'_You are NOT to be trick-or-treating with Hinata-sama this year. at all. she is at a very impressionable age, and does not need to be subjected to your crude behavior. You may stay in your room or go trick-or-treating of your own volition, but please note that if you get picked up by a child molester, thrown in a vehicle and get taken away somewhere noone will care, nor will anyone be dispatched to find you. That is all._' Were Hiashi's exact words, and Neji had stayed in place for about half an hour after that, his poor six year old brain trying to comprehend what he had been told. He probably would have sat there longer if Hiashi hadn't returned and threatened to press loitering charges.

After ten more intense minutes of the staring contest with the ceiling that Neji keeps telling himself he won, the boy returned his gaze longingly to the ninja costume he had made himself (because ninjas were the cool thing that year). He observed the black material that he had only kind-of been told not to use, and the seams sewn with his own hair (because apparently branch members don't get allowance). He really wanted to go out, but on the other hand he definetly knew he was cute enough for a stranger to pick up. Neji, naturally, didn't particularily enjoy being molested, so he tried to keep this at the basis of his plans for the evening. Then, a thought so pointless it would only matter to a six year old formed in his head.

'_Wait! what am I worried about? I'm a ninja-for-pretend! I can even almost do a summersault! Noone would dare mess with me!'_ These were the exact thoughts that proved as a base for his evening plans, and the start of his ego. He turned to his clock, wich read 7:00, and nodded. Mind made up, the small Hyuga hit the power button on his MP3 so he could listen to 'mission impossible' as he got dressed. This took all of five minutes (half of wich was brushing out his overly long hair), and Neji stepped down the stairs, stomped over to the door, and slammed it open to face the... world?

It didn't take Neji long to realize the streets were completely and utterly empty, so the Hyuga cautiously closed the door and stepped out onto the front porch. Halloween... was supposed to look like this? Neji was beinning to question his motives on coming out at this point. In previous situations he had simply followed his father,driven by the need for candies and not much else. Now, with no adult figure present, Neji felt utterly alone. Still, he determinedly stomped down the steps with pillow sheet in hand, opting to go to the first house he saw with lights turned on, as he had been taught. The only house with lights on in the nearby area was a good ways down the street, and by the time Neji got there he was feeling slightly tired. nonetheless, he walked up to the door and... a flicker of something in the corner of his eye distracted him just before he opened the door. Looking through the window was a middle aged woman who looked rather angry, and she kept gesturing to something on the wall (just out of Neji's sight). When a couple futile moments of gesturing had gone by, the woman sighed, walked away from the window, and seconds later the outside lights turned off. Backing away from the house, Neji took up his desperate search for sugar once more.

Upon walking further down the street, more and more lights were being turned off, and it wasn't untill three blocks later that Neji realized his fatal mistake. The clock in Neji's room had broken months ago, wich meant in turn that he was out at about 12:00. Of all the thoughts that flew through his head at that point, the most doiminant was '_No! It can't end like this! I need candy!_'. With this thought in his head, Neji turned to glare at the nearest house to his left. He WOULD have his candy.

--

Standing in the backyard of the previously mentioned house, Neji was yet again beginning to doubt his ideas. Though the nearest window was on the second story, tired and driven by the thought of sugar, The small Hyuga began his climb up the uneven side of the house. He had one hand on the windowsill when his foot slipped, so Neji heaved himself into the room before he could fall to the cold ground. Standing up to brush off his pants, the Hyuga observed the room he had landed in, and spotted a bag of candy lying unattended next to the b-- "Who ARE you!?!?!?!?!" Oh. Maybe it was a little bit attended. Neji turned to look at the bed, and saw a long haired brunette of about the same age as him sitting up and staring at him accusingly.

"I.. I.. Uh... You see..." Neji faltered, and the brunette shook her head. She looked him over again, and relization dawned on her face.

"You're a ninja, right!?!?!?!?" the small female exclaimed, and Neji nodded slowly, not quite sure what was going on, and finally beginning to realize he had just broken into someone's back window. For candy, of all reasons.

"Hmm... Mr. Ninja? You look real sleepy." The girl piped in, and she hopped out of bed to grab his arm. They both walked towards the bed, and she leaned down to pick up the bag of candy. The brunette then sat on the bed again, candy in her lap, looking at him expectantly, then patting the space next to her. Neji sat on the bed, still worried, but somewhat intrigued by the girl's behavior.

"Let's have a sleepover, Mr. Ninja! We have to, because I, Tenten, say so!" the girl exclaimed. Neji nodded, scaling the wall back down to the garden didn't seem like that much fun at that point. Reaching over to grab candies from the bag, Neji suddenly looked away.

"Can't." He mumbled, while sticking a chocolate bar in his mouth.

"What!?!?! Why?" Tenten asked, and a bright blush formed on Neji's face.

"Can't sleep with girls 'till im married..." The boy responded, remembering what his father had told him.

"Psh! We'll just have to get married then, right?" Tenten spoke plainly, grabbing two sourkeys and sticking their ring fingers through the holes.

"Tenten. I do. Mr. Ninja. You do. There. Now we're married." Neji stared in awe at his 'wife', but figured that it was permanent enough (Untill he ate the ring). The two children cuddled together, ignoring the outside world and falling into dreamless sleeps.

The next morning Hiashi would figure Neji had been picked up a molestor, and Tenten's parents would get quite a shock. But at the moment that didn't matter. Because at the moment, yes, it could be said that Neji Hyuga liked halloween. After all, this was before he told himself.

--

I know its short, but I'm really tired right now and this story had no prior planning XD

Please drop a comment if you liked it!

-Utsuro


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